Quirky baby-naming strategies: deciding when you can’t decide

Choosing a baby name is often much harder than we expect it to be, but would you let strangers make the choice or download an app to do it for you? Here are some of the more peculiar ways to choose your baby name.

Is picking the perfect name for your baby turning out to be more painful than childbirth itself? Perhaps you’re locked in a stalemate with your partner or you like too many names and can’t decide. Fear not – there are several unique strategies to help you resolve all your baby-naming dilemmas.

Quirky baby naming strategies

Strategy 1: Let your unborn baby decide

Are you afraid your child will grow up to hate his or her name and resent you forever? Well, toss all those baby name books in the recycling bin and let your foetus name itself! For 99 cents, the Kick to Pick app allows your baby to choose its own moniker from the womb. Simply place your phone on your belly and wait until your bub gives a big kick to generate a name. If you’re not willing to give up complete creative control to a being the size of a prawn, you can create a list of favourites for bub to choose from or simply reject the chosen name until you find a suitable one.

“Although we’re far from reading a baby’s mind, we can read their movements and our app will use these tiny kicks and prods to bring another opinion into the naming debate,” said creator Nathan Parks in a statement. “We’re just hoping it doesn’t cause any arguments along the way!”

Strategy 2: Use an online baby name generator

Websites like BabyNameGenie.com promise the ‘perfect’ name for your baby. Type in your last name and choose between ‘boy’, ‘girl’ and ‘surprise me’ to obtain a first and middle name. I got Isabella Tatyana Anderson … not bad!

Don’t like the result? Launch the generator as often as you want – but beware the genie’s snarky comments if you reject too many of his choices! You can also sign up to receive an email with a new name each day until you find one that fits.

Strategy 3: Let your child choose it when they’re older

American Olympic skier, Picabo Street, was known as ‘Little Girl’ for the first two years of her life because her hippie parents wanted her to name herself. Alas, Picabo never had the chance to make that momentous decision. When her parents tried to obtain a passport for her, government officials forced them to pick a name. They settled on the name of a neighbouring town, which is actually pronounced “peek-a-boo”. Well, at least it sounds like a two-year-old picked it!

While Australian baby-naming laws won’t allow you to leave a blank space on your child’s birth certificate, you could pick a temporary name and allow your child to change it legally when they reach a certain age. Another option if you’re keen to give your little one some creative control is to leave them without a middle name and let them pick it when they’re old and wise enough. But if you choose one of these options, be prepared to accept a ridiculous name they might come to loathe later in life.

Strategy 4: Pick the name out of a hat

On pregnancy and parenting website TheBump.com, a mum admits that she and her partner picked names out of two hats – one for the first name and one for the middle name. If you and your partner can’t agree on a name, this could be a winning strategy. Then again, it’s a pretty big decision to leave to chance. If you pulled out a name you didn’t like, could you really just accept it without argument? I know I couldn’t! Perhaps this method should only include names you both love. In other words, it’s for couples with too many options rather than clashing ones.

Mum Jennifer James was happy with the outcome because she realised halfway through that Jackson sounded too similar to her husband’s surname, Dixon. “I don’t know why I didn’t realise the ‘Jackson Dixon’ thing, but I think once I realised that, he was going to be Logan no matter what,” she said. In the end, they used Jackson as the middle name and called their son Logan Jackson Dixon.

Have you used any unusual strategies to name your children? Let us know below.